


something old, something new

by rosebarsoap



Category: The Wayhaven Chronicles (Interactive Fiction)
Genre: But kind of, F/M, here comes the bride, not really - Freeform, the yearning is real tonight lads
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-06
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-12 15:29:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29886675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosebarsoap/pseuds/rosebarsoap
Summary: a commission for the lovely PorcelainWings/ gloynporslen on tumblr! thank you again!featuring: detective aria langford, everyone's favorite tina poname, angsty adam (tm), and Yearning.lots of bridal dress-related yearning.
Relationships: Adam du Mortain/Original Female Character(s), Detective/Adam du Mortain, Female Detective & Adam du Mortain, Female Detective/Adam du Mortain
Comments: 1
Kudos: 15





	something old, something new

**Author's Note:**

  * For [PorcelainWings](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PorcelainWings/gifts).



“No.”

“What do you _mean,_ no?”

“I mean _no,_ Tina!” Aria bites back a laugh as she stares at… well, would she call it a dress? No. No, she wouldn’t.

“Well, _I_ think it’s beautiful,” Tina nods, but the glimmer in her eye tells Aria that she agrees with her-- the canary yellow tulle _tutu,_ bedazzled with pink rhinestones, is more suited for her niece’s dance recital, not her cousin’s wedding. 

“Yeah, for a nine-year-old playing a duckling in _Swan Lake,_ maybe.” Aria arches a brow at Tina, her arms folded across her chest. “And I thought your cousin already picked a color scheme? Yellow is… _not_ it.”

“And you don’t think I’d rock it anyway?” Tina holds the tutu up to her chest-- the tulle skirt hits her hips, _maybe._ Aria snorts.

“I’m sure you would, but this is your cousin’s day, not _yours.”_

Tina sighs and puts the tutu back on the rack, juggling it between the two she’s trying to pick from. They’re both dark blue and beautiful, hence why neither of them could choose one-- they’re waiting on Tina’s cousin’s feedback via text before they say yes to the dress. 

“Still nothing?” Aria asks, nodding at Tina’s phone in her back pocket. Tina scoops it out to check and sighs, blowing her hair around her face.

“Still nothing,” she repeats, her shoulders slumping. “You’d figure they’d be more on top of it when the wedding’s like, a week away.”

“It’s not _their_ fault you waited ‘til the last minute to go dress-shopping.” Aria smirks at Tina’s scandalized expression and laughs. “What? It’s true!”

“Yeah, but you don’t need to _remind_ me,” she mutters, shaking her head with a chuckle. “Whatever. I think we’re good waiting here until they text me back-- oh, there she is.”

The attendant and owner for the bridal boutique, Ivy, comes around the corner with a dazzling smile readily equipped. “Did y’all find what you needed? Need some more time?”

“We’re waiting on approval from the star of the show themself,” Tina sighs, flipping her hair over one shoulder. “Typical, y’know?”

Aria stands back and watches as the two chat about Tina’s cousin-- a friend in common, they found out, and Ivy recognized Tina from school, and so on. She smiles at Tina’s giggle from Ivy’s joke and quickly tunes back into the conversation.

“Well, until you hear back from your cousin about the right dress, you’re free to hang out here if y’all want to,” Ivy says, waving an arm around the various aisles of fancy dresses. “Try on whatever you’d like. It’s pretty slow today, so y’all are welcome to chill here for a while.”

“Ooh, _really?_ ” Tina looks at Aria and-- oh, no. Aria knows that look. 

“Tina--”

“Is it _time?_ Is it really time for us to _finally_ have our eighties-style dress-up montage?!”

Aria sighs. Tina, on the other hand, looks positively elated, and Aria can’t say no to that _face._

“Fine… It’s time.”

Even Ivy grins at that and rushes to the back room. “I have just the playlist for this.”

And she certainly does. Classic tunes belt from the bridal shop’s speakers as Ivy dashes around, finding sizes in the best (“weirdest”, Tina insists) dresses she’s got. Aria twirls in a baby pink fluffy dress that looks more like a marshmallow than an article of clothing; Tina strikes all manner of ridiculous poses in an embroidered lime green shift straight out of the sixties. She’s rather fond of it, actually.

“Can I take this one home with me?” Tina asks, only half-joking. “Can’t be that bad, can it?”

Aria snorts. “Tina. You look like a lime-flavored popsicle.”

“A $800 lime popsicle,” Ivy adds, nodding to the dress. “It’s one of a kind with the embroidery stylin’.”

Tina pales and turns her back to Aria. “Unzip it before I break it, please.”

“You got it.”

\-- -- -- -- --

Felix squints. If he gets the trajectory just right, his paper airplane will land right in the middle of the book Nate’s staring at so intently (they call it _reading,_ Felix), but if literally _anything_ messes it up, it’ll send the ashes in Mason’s full ashtray blowing around like leaves in the Wayhaven wind. He purses his lips, holds his breath… and the plane takes off. 

The door swings open. The plane suffers heavy turbulence and lands on the newcomer’s foot instead.

“So close,” Felix groans, then looks up at said turbulence-causer. “Ahah, uh… Sorry?”

Adam shakes his head and deigns not to reply. He takes his spot next to the window in Aria’s office and glances through the blinds with a heavy sigh.

“Where is Ari-- Detective Langford?”

Felix snickers. “Nobody knows. Apparently her and Tina went out for the day or something?”

Adam looks blank. Felix side-glances at Mason before he elaborates “Y’know. Tina? The short one with curly hair? I need to be the leader ‘round these parts, yeesh.”

“Dress-shopping for some ‘cousin’s wedding’.” Mason clicks the door shut behind him and waves a sticky note he has stuck to one finger. “Found this in the break room on the fridge. Aria’s handwriting.”

“Yeah, that!” Felix nods emphatically. “Shopping for dresses and… and stuff.”

Nate laughs. “They should be back soon, I assume.” He glances at Adam as he says it and can’t suppress a smile when he sees Adam’s shoulders untense just a _little_ bit. 

“Guessin’ we’re stuck here until she gets back, then?” Mason asks, flicking the sticky note into the trash can.

“Seems that way.” Nate shrugs. “It’s not too bad. It’s quiet here, and Aria deserves a day off every once in a while.”

“She could’ve told us where she went herself,” Adam grumbles. “Rather than leaving a paper trail. What if she was in trouble and we didn’t know where to find her?”

“Paper trail? Adam, it’s _one_ sticky note. It’s like… a paper stepping stone.”

Adam growls. Felix holds up both hands in surrender and smirks.

“Regardless… Aria’s fine. She has all of our numbers, I’m sure she’ll let us know if something happens.” Nate looks pointedly at Adam, who rolls his eyes and looks out the window again.

She better not get in trouble.

\-- -- -- -- --

Oh, she’s in _so_ much trouble.

 _“C’mooooon,_ Aria, pretty please?” Tina holds up the dress and pins Aria with her very best puppy-dog eyes. Aria, however, is unconvinced. 

“I thought we were trying on the ug-- _unconventional_ dresses,” Aria says, quickly correcting herself. “Why do I have to try on the fancy one?”

“Why not! Maybe it’ll get mister thirteenth-century to finally pay attention to you,” Tina teases as she waggles her brows. Ivy perks up at that.

“Ooh, you got a man in your life, Miss Langford?”

“Something like that. And pretty sure he’s _twelfth_ century.”

Aria deflates ever so slightly at the reminder. Adam is… complicated, to say the very least. She has no idea what to call whatever it is that they have, if there even _is_ anything there. She worries she’s making it up to fill some sort of void in her heart-- which sounds _so_ dramatic when she really thinks about it--

“Twelfth, thirteenth, whatever! Try it on anyway! _Pleeeeeease?”_

Aria blinks, shakes her head to clear her thoughts, and meets Tina’s second puppy-dog eyes attempt. Somehow, this rendition finally breaks her down enough to take the dress from Tina’s outstretched hands.

“If I look ridiculous, I _will_ have to up your patrol times or-- or something.”

“You would _never.”_

“You’d be surprised,” Aria mutters, but she’s grinning as she swipes the curtain shut to the dressing room behind her.

She hangs the dress up on one of the provided hooks and stares it down. It’s long, far longer than the funny dresses she tried on earlier-- is that a _train?_ The dress is beautiful, of course: White and traditional, lace detailing on the skirt that shimmers in the bright lights of the boutique. It reminds her of a dress from a movie, almost, with the open neckline and draping off-the-shoulder straps. Aria stares at it for a moment, brow furrowed. 

“Hurry up! I wanna see how it looks!” Tina calls from the other side of the curtain, and Aria flinches out of her thoughts. She chuckles and resigns herself to her lacy dressed fate.

“Give me a second, this thing’s covered in buttons.”

\-- -- -- -- --

“This is getting ridiculous,” Adam finally says, and the other members of Unit Bravo turn to him with varying expressions of confusion (Felix), apathy (Mason), and curiosity (Nate). “She should be back by now.”

“Wh-- oh, Aria?” Felix tosses the crumpled up paper ball into the air and catches it in his beanie. “Nice. I mean, she’s fine, otherwise we would’ve heard something from her, right?”

“That’s not necessarily correct,” Adam starts to protest, but when Felix levels him with a look far too full of mischief, he shuts his mouth. 

_“Whaaat,_ you worried about her?”

He is. Terribly, fretfully worried about her. He shouldn’t be-- Aria is an adult woman who can handle herself, as he’s already seen. But he remembers how she cried when they lost Sanja, how weak she looked when they found her after Murphy kidnapped her… Adam still feels his stomach sink when he remembers how she slipped through his fingers. He won’t let that happen again.

And besides… she’s this town’s only detective. Of course he’s worried she’s gotten herself hurt. Who else will, ahem, “detect” things around town? Yes. That’s why he’s worried. 

Obviously.

“Does anyone know the address of this… place they are in?”

Mason shrugs. “This town’s small enough. Sure we’d find it no problem if we looked.”

Nate sits up straighter in his chair and snaps his book shut. “Adam, I’m sure she’s fine with Tina. They’re busy, they’ll be back soon.”

Adam, naturally, is unconvinced. He would love to sit back and wait for Aria to return, but at this point… he can’t help but be concerned. A note on the fridge for everyone to see? Why didn’t she just tell him-- and the rest of the team, of course? 

Adam gets up. The rest of the team, knowing his mindset, start to gather their belongings together.

“Let’s go.”

\-- -- -- -- --

“Are you done yet?”

Aria groans, finally unpopping the last button on the dress’ button-up back and replies, “This thing is like a frilly Rubik’s Cube, Tina. Did you have to pick the most complicated one?”

Tina giggles from the other side of the curtain, and Aria can almost sense the smug look on her face. “Yes, yes I did. Now put it on already!”

Aria sighs and grumbles a “fine, fine” before she starts taking off her regular clothes. Her mind wanders as she undresses, as it usually does, to thoughts of Adam-- nothing _scandalous,_ mind you, but as she slips into the wedding dress, she has to wonder: would Adam ever consider marriage? He certainly seems like the traditional type, from the mere moments they’ve had together. Felix and Mason certainly tease her mercilessly about them, but that doesn’t mean her feelings are _reciprocated_ by any means… She has her doubts, to say the least.

Aria straightens up and looks at herself in the floor-length mirror the dressing room provides and her breath catches. Huh. She actually… does this dress _suit_ her? It fits like an incredibly flattering glove, close-fitting at the waist and flaring out at the hips. She can’t resist-- she does a twirl. The skirt flows around her legs like water and her heart flutters just a _little_ bit. 

It’s not often she gets to feel like a princess.

A princess with the back of her dress open, anyway, because she can’t reach all the buttons between her shoulder blades. Aria flips the dress train behind her and flings open the curtain to a waiting Tina and Ivy.

“Tina, I need your help fastening th--”

“ _Ohhhhhmigosh,_ look at you!” 

“Oh, you look so beautiful!” 

“The buttons,” Aria finishes, trying not to laugh as Tina insists on twirling her around for a 360-view. “Can you help me with them?”

“Oh, of course! But wow, Aria…” Tina sniffs theatrically, placing a hand on Aria’s shoulder. “I never thought I’d see the day…”

“What, where I’d be dressing up like a little kid in a wedding dress?”

Tina swats Aria’s arm before turning her around to finish buttoning her up. “You know what I mean.”

“The dress really does suit you, Miss Langford,” Ivy chimes in, hands clasped to her chest. “Don’t you look a sight!”

Aria lets Tina finish the buttons before scooping up her skirts and stepping onto a small, round platform in front of three tall mirrors. They’re right-- she does look good. She fluffs her hair up a little as Tina and Ivy fan the skirts out around her legs and fiddle with the train behind her.

“Ooh, wait, I just remembered! We have a matchin’ veil for this dress, lemme go get it,'' Ivy chatters before disappearing into the back storage room. Tina walks around to stand in front of Aria and grins.

“You gonna text your man and tell him where you’re at?”

“He’s not my _man,”_ Aria mutters, smoothing her hands down the bodice of the dress. “Plus I left that note on the break room fridge.”

“Still, if he’s as much of a worry-wart as you’ve told me he is--” Tina stands up straight and squares her shoulders, doing a surprisingly accurate impression of Unit Bravo’s fearless leader. “You must tell me where you are every second of every day or I _will_ break more precious gifts in your office.”

Aria snorts. “He’s not that bad. Trust me, if he was I’d’ve done more than pepper-sprayed him.”

Tina blinks at her in shock. “You _pepper-sprayed_ a vamp--”

“Found it!”

Ivy brandishes a veil made of the same frilly lace that adorns the skirts of the dress. “Took some diggin’, but I got it! You wanna wear the whole thing together?”

Aria lets Tina answer for her-- a resounding “hell _yeah_ she does!”

\-- -- -- -- --

Adam makes his way downtown with the rest of the team behind him. Felix chatted up some poor assistant for the specific address of the bridal boutique in Wayhaven, and judging by her directions, they’re just about--

“There!”

Felix points at a window they stop in front of, decorated to the nines with dress forms wearing fancy white gowns. He ogles at the mannequins with appropriate “oooh”s and “ahhh”s.

“Caron Bridal. This is the place on the note,” Nate confirms. “Should we wait outside for her, or…?”

Mason snickers. “Don’t think _he_ wants to wait another second longer.”

He nods at Adam, who, predictably, is already through the door. Nate sighs, and the rest of the team follow suit.

Adam’s temporarily sound-blinded by the blasting of… truly _abysmal_ music (how on earth are you hungry like a wolf? Humans could never understand a wolf’s hunger), but once his senses adjust to the overly bright store, he stops dead in his tracks. He sees a tall woman with dark, wavy hair (a stranger, must be the shop owner), a short woman who makes eye contact with him and gasps (Tina, he knows her and the dearly departed houseplant), and… a bride. An opaque veil covers her face and shoulders, but her arms are bare-- and Adam knows that wrist scar all too well.

“Adam?”

Aria’s voice, bells in the morning air, pulls him out of his reverie. Adam feels comforted by the sound; the knot between his brows loosens and his shoulders droop in relief. With the help of the tall stranger and Tina, Aria steps down from a small platform she stood upon and walks up to him… Which soon proves to be his downfall.

Why is she dressed as a bride and walking down a long hallway to him? Why _him?_ Adam can’t speak or move or think. All he sees is Aria, beautiful as ever, wearing a long white dress that trails behind her as she moves. His breath catches when she stops a few feet before him, pulling the veil up over her face and _there_ she is.

He’s been looking everywhere for her.

“What are you doing here? Is everything alright?” Aria looks concerned for a moment before something catches her attention. “Ivy, why is this song in your eighties playlist?”

“Hm? Oh, sorry! Must’ve left it in the queue or somethin’,” the stranger says, her accent thick and southern American. Adam just about registers the song skipping-- the one that distracted Aria was about a tale being old or something. He didn’t really pay attention.

Aria turns back to him and finds the rest of the team over Adam’s shoulder, somewhat sheepish in her wave to them. Felix, predictably, bounds over to Aria with a wide smirk. 

“ _Wowee,_ don’t you look stunning! Are you gonna get this dress? _I_ think you should, princess detective.” 

Aria laughs-- Adam’s heart stutters in his chest. “Oh, yeah, I’m _definitely_ buying this dress and wearing it to work.”

“Seems practical,” Nate jokes. “Really though, it looks lovely on you.”

Even Mason nods, giving Aria a quick once-over. “Yeah. Didn’t think white would be your color, but… it’s pretty.”

Aria smiles, small and genuine, and fiddles with the hem of the veil. “Well… thank you. I’m gonna go change now-- should probably get back to work, huh.” She glances up at Adam, almost apologetic; did she think he came here to scold her for goofing off?

Adam wants to stop her. He wants to tell her to stay in the dress for longer, so he can commit it to memory for the rest of his immortal days. He wants to, God forbid, _daydream_ about her in a wedding dress, walking down the aisle to him, where he’d get the chance to lift the veil away from her face himself…

But that’s all it’ll ever be, he reminds himself as he watches her walk away.

A daydream.

Aria disappears into a curtained room and Adam _immediately_ feels the stares of the rest of his team on his back. He does his damndest to ignore them, closing his eyes and rubbing two fingers on his temple. There’s the tense again. He hates how it only ebbs away when Aria looks at him.

Aria reappears a few minutes later, dressed in her regular attire with the dress over her arm. She gives it to the attendant, Ivy, who’s been pulled into Felix’s chattering in the interim. Tina looks down at her phone and shows the screen to Aria, who smiles and replies something about “they picked the right dress” and “that was my favorite anyway”. Adam doesn’t speak. He waits until everyone files outside before he gets Aria’s attention once more, standing away from the group with his arms folded behind his back.

“Why were you here?” He asks, knowing all too well that it sounds more biting than he intended. Barbed wire words. Safer than softness.

Aria rolls her eyes. “Tina wanted me to come with her to shop for a bridesmaid’s dress with her and I got roped into a game of dress-up.”

She crosses her arms at Adam’s eyebrow quirk, his lack of reply. “What? I can goof off and dress pretty sometimes. I’m allowed.”

He studies her for a moment. She’s defensive, arms crossed, but simultaneously embarrassed that he caught her messing around. She looks down at her feet, unable to hold his stare.

Adam smiles. He hides it as she lifts her head up, attention caught by his hand on her upper arm.

“You don’t need to… dress-up. You look beautiful every day.”

Aria’s expression softens, eyes wide and lips slightly parted in shock. Adam drops his hand from her arm and rolls his shoulders back.

He has to admit he takes some sort of pride in how flustered she gets. Adam isn’t the smoothest casanova he knows… but he has his moments.

“We should get back to work.”

And with that, he turns on his heel and heads back to the rest of the team. Nate arches a brow at him. Felix snickers and cups a hand to his ear.

“Anyone else hear wedding bells?”

“Shut up.”


End file.
